Classic Poem

ADDRESSED

" To Him who will best understand them, "

BUT COMMUNICATED

TO THE AUTHOR.

B Y the first sigh that o'er thy lip did hover,
And sweetly breath'd a secret, sweeter still;
By thy reproachful glance, thou mock reprover!
The speechless transport, and the vaunted thrill;

By thy well-feign'd despair, and fancied sorrow;
The sudden languor, and the transient glow;
By all those wiles thou know'st from Love to borrow;
And all the charms that from the Graces flow;

By the soft murmurs of thy soothing tongue;
By all thy looks have told, or smiles exprest;
By all thou fondly swor'st, or said, or sung;
By all the arts thou aimest at my breast;

By the warm tear of love, (delusive trembler!)
Thou know'st to conjure to thy dang'rous eye;
And by that dang'rous eye, thou arch Dissembler,
I still am free, and Love and Thee, defy!

For not thy faultless form, or native grace,
While barren of the mental beam divine,
Unmark'd by one soft, sentimental trace,
Can wound an heart, or win a soul like mine.